October 7-10, 2005
Wisdom House, Connecticut
Register NOW

* Spending a lot of energy wondering what's next for you?

* Oscillating among the certainty that you're in transition, worrying that you're being neurotic, and declaring firmly that life is fine and you better not even think of rocking the boat?

* Find yourself saying, "I don't know" (and wishing you did) about your work, creative passion, or life purpose?

* Sense a deep, rumbling change brewing beneath the surface--a new stage of being trying to birth--or think you should get over it and get on with all those things you somehow seem not to want to do anymore?)

* Yearn for skills to move with grace (please, God!) through this patch of unknowing?

* Worried that if you don't keep pushing you'll never know, never move forward, or never birth what's next?

* Crave time, space, and support to cease straining to know what's next?

Then congratulations! You are in a powerful time of growth and change, the betwixt-between place where new possibilities and deep soul direction, purpose and passion, beckon. (That's the good news.) It is also a time of fogginess, loss, fear, and quite frankly, a dangerous time. (That's the bad news.) It's possible to miss or refuse the call of these passages and turn our back on what is beckoning, deciding it is too dangerous and too uncertain, and thus sticking with what we know. The choice is ours, but how do we make it? And once made, how do we live the choice until the transition is complete?

Surfing the Edge of the Known is designed for you to investigate--with compassion, spirit, cutting-edge learning, and humor--the mystery and potential of this moment in your life. This retreat isn't about answers, it isn't about getting done with anything--the soul's growth moves at its own pace; forcing the river only creates dams. However, there are skillful ways to navigate these waters, and to invest the journey with dignity, meaning, direction.

Join best-selling author, Certified Coach, and experienced retreat guide Jennifer Louden and Master Coach, artist, and spiral wizard Molly Gordon to be enfolded in a fresh context of support and challenge. Come and see with new eyes.

We will explore:

* How savoring the stirrings of desire, whether or not they are satisfied, can nourish the soul and point toward new beginnings.

* Ways to name your "soul deliverable," the unique contribution that you can't help but make, giving you a compass for the days ahead.

* How your Soul Deliverable meets the world's great need. (Isn't it about time you felt really at home in the universe?)

* Where or how you may be blocking or forcing your passage, causing unnecessary suffering.

* The design of a personal integral* practice to challenge and support you as your purpose unfolds.

* Measurable criteria for evaluating your progress -- criteria that speak to your core values and that make sense at this time of your life.

* The nature of change, which explains that whole "take two steps forward, one step back" thing.

* How to live in "I don't know" while remaining an active participant in the design and meaning of your life.

* Teasing out the facts from the beliefs about what's going on; facing your demons and declaring yourself trustworthy and responsible.

* Listening and opening to input from multiple sources including the natural beauty of the surroundings, the women who gather with you, and your own heart.

* And who knows what else that may appear in our time together!

Why Do We Need This?

We live in a world that values knowing more than mystery, deciding more than listening, and doing more than being. As a result, we may turn our backs on the deep changes that call to us, not because we don't want to grow, but because we have become hypnotized into thinking that growth is linear, driving, forward-moving. Yet we risk dying to our true selves if we flee from the uncertainty and ambiguity of transitions. At these times, doing more, trying harder, reaching farther, can actually be a form of hiding, of regression into fear and ignorance. In short, we need new contexts, rituals, and interpretations if we are to learn to transform while keeping daily life "together."

Transformation, by its very nature takes us outside of our current frames of reference making it impossible to accurately understand and interpret what is happening without help. We can't know what "it" is about until we have undergone the changes and look back. Yet if we can't know where we are going or how to evaluate our progress, why go at all? Why not just forge ahead with the life we already have?

We've designed this retreat out of our own lived experience of this dilemma. We've distilled the wisdom of thousands of hours of coaching our clients, not to mention our own passages. The result is an experiential retreat that will create a context for profound transformation while respecting the realities of every-day life. We're not promising to make growth easy or painless; however, we do claim it is possible to design a through-line to give ourselves bearings in even the most complex territory.

Such a through-line allows us to keep our lives more or less on course during tumultuous passages, and a big piece of our work during the retreat will be to interpret what "on course" means for each one of us. How do you chart a course when your compass readings no longer match those of your friends or co-workers? Or when the needle starts spinning? (Hint: Think "center" rather than "north" and gyroscope, not compass!)

Learning how to chart a course in the midst of uncertainty does not change the fact that significant energy is required to be with the unknowable mystery of transformation. We'll look at where we can get that energy and how to sustain it. We'll tap hidden reservoirs to provide the fuel for the process, reservoirs you can learn to re-stock so that you always know where to go for support.

This is not an airy-fairy "New Age" retreat -- everything Molly and Jennifer bring grows out of a combination of integral learning, years of coaching experience and training, and their own life experience. We will utilize:

* Guided and silent meditation
* Group exercises ranging from writing to mind mapping to dialogue
* Full Circle Council
* The Work of Byron Katie
* Movement and voice work
* Silence
* Time in nature

You Will Benefit from Attending If:

* You're at a crossroads, wondering what is next for you in one or more areas of your life.

* You're in the midst of a life change: career, relationship, relocation, empty nest, completing or beginning a business, or educational experience.

* You feel you need more clarity about your life purpose or how to help that purpose take shape.

* You keep saying, "If I just had some peace and quiet, if I could just listen, I could find my next step."

* You feel you are being called but have no idea who or what is calling, and some days you think you are making it all up anyway.

* While we will draw from the field of Integral theory and practice as developed by the philosopher Ken Wilber, it is not necessary that you have prior familiarity with his work. If you do, you will doubtless recognize some applications, however this retreat is designed for you to experience shifts rather than wax philosophical about them.

About Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center
Located on 54 acres of meadows, wood, and brooks off a quiet country road in the beautiful Northwest Hills of Connecticut, Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center offers indoor and outdoor sanctuaries for meditation, prayer, creative thinking and spiritual development for individuals, groups, corporations, professional associations, or other organizations.

Here's what the Wisdom House folks tell us about their extraordinary facility:

"On our 54 acres we have the colonial style main building with ten meeting rooms, bedrooms, two dining rooms, the chapel and Art Gallery. There is also an 18th Century New England farmhouse with fireplace. The Marie Louise building offers one more meeting room. A spacious barn holds outdoor programs.

"Our outdoor sanctuaries include one of the first labyrinths in Connecticut, the Founders' Bell walking paths, meditation gardens, the Peace Garden and two shrine areas. Within the Peace Garden there is The Wisdom Sculpture and the Peace Pole. The Wisdom Sculpture was created by artist Dee Carnelli in 1993. It represents an aspect of Wisdom as presented in the Bible: Wisdom is said to be the "mother of all the living" and so the sculpture appears as a large egg or cocoon, containing life. The spiral encircling it is an ancient symbol for eternity and infinity adding the notion that Wisdom is "mother of everlasting life".

'The Peace Pole was planted in the garden in 1992. On the sides of the pole is the prayer, "May Peace Prevail on Earth". The four languages are English, Spanish, French and Sign."

Cost
These costs are per person and include accommodations, three meals daily, a snack, and all retreat activities.

* Commuter Rate (NO ACCOMMODATIONS) $270

* Shared Room: $629

* Private Room: $669

* Private "Room with Private Bath: FULL

DEPOSIT AND CANCELLATION
A non-refundable deposit of $200 reserves your spot. The remaining balance is due August 15th, 2005 or upon registration, whichever is earlier.

If you cancel after paying in full, and we can fill your spot, we will refund all, but your $200 deposit. If we cannot fill your spot, we cannot refund any of your monies. Of course, if the weekend is canceled due to Jennifer or Molly's ill health or a natural disaster, your entire fee will be refunded.

HOW TO REGISTER
Click here and pay your deposit by credit card. Please indicate your room preference.

Mail your $200 deposit and balance to: Debbie Buxton, PO Box 307, Grapeview, WA 98546. Please indicate in the memo field "Wisdom House Retreat" and make check payable to Jennifer Louden.

The Presenters
Jennifer Louden is the Comfort Queen, the best-selling author of the Comfort Book series, a certified coach, the creator of learning events and retreats, and the owner of Comfortqueen.com. She has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs, including Oprah. She's spoken to thousands of women in groups as diverse as the Canadian wilderness and a German bank. She mentors creative women all over the world. There are over 750,000 copies of her books in print worldwide and in January, HarperSanFrancisco will update her first four books with new covers and updated resources. She's also a columnist for Body & Soul magazine and at work on her first novel.

Molly Gordon is an internationally recognized Master Certified Coach. She is the creator of Authentic Promotion, Grow Your Business, Feed Your Soul, a program that uses marketing as a crucible for personal growth and professional success. Molly's eclectic background includes training as a facilitator of The Work of Byron Katie, somatic approaches including Process Work and Embodied Intelligence (Seishindo), Jungian studies, Improv, singing, and cycling. She weaves all of these into her work, ensuring vivid, experiential learning.